The Odd Family's Book of Bedtime Stories

Selfie

Aaliyah didn't mind taking on an extra child for the Robertsons, a family she often babysat for. Mrs. Robertson had asked if it was okay, for a little extra money. Of course it was. Jasmine, the extra child, would now be a permanent fixture at the Robertson house. Her parents, distant cousins of Mr. Robertson's, had been brutally murdered. Apparently no one knew why or who had done it. The family wasn't close to their cousins because they 'were into a lot of weird things'. Aaliyah didn't pry for any more information.

Jasmine was well behaved, though Aaliyah suspected it was mostly the trauma. The little girl didn't play much with her cousins, only watched and sat by herself. Of course, Aaliyah tried to get her to participate but the little girl seemed uninterested. After dinner had come and gone, Aaliyah got everyone ready for bed.

Jasmine, however, didn't want to stay in bed. When she came down, her only explanation was that she had a nightmare. Aaliyah did not ask for any more information and retrieved the girl's teddy bear. She offered her cellphone to play with. As she suspected, Jasmine took it and took off. After playing games for some time, she started taking pictures with the camera. Most were selfies or closeups of the teddy bear.

After some time, Jasmine grew tired. It had been a long day for her and she began to nod off sitting on the couch. Noticing this, Aaliyah took her upstairs and back to bed with her teddy bear. At first, Jasmine fought sleep as hard as she could. She said that she couldn't sleep, she was afraid of the monster that killed her parents. It didn't take long for her to give up the fight and go to sleep.

When she got back downstairs, Aaliyah checked the home's alarm system. It was still armed and the house was safe. Deciding to go work on some homework, the teen grabbed her phone and sat down on the couch. She just needed to delete the pictures Jasmine had taken first. There were a lot of them, most of them out of focus. She had set up an entire fashion show for a teddy bear.

That was when Aaliyah saw it. In the back of almost all the photos was a strange figure. It wasn't quite human and she hadn't seen it when the photos were taken. It looked almost like a man, though it wasn't quite there. It had sickly pale skin and long fingers. Its too large eyes were red, like blood, and the thing was nearly eight feet tall.

Her hand trembling, Aaliyah pulled up her camera to take a picture herself.

She screamed.